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WnSTIR.N.Y.  145tO 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHiy/l/iCIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  Microraproductlons  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notos  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Instituta  haa  anamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  baiow. 


r~7]    Colourad  eovara/ 
l^    Couvartura  da  coulaur 


r~n    Covars  damagad/ 


n 


D 


n 


D 


n 


Couvartura  andommagAa 


Covars  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raatauria  at/ou  palliculAa 


□    Covar  title  miasing/ 
La  titra  da  couvartui 


couvartura  manqua 


I — I    Colourad  mapa/ 


Cartas  giographiquaa  an  coulaur 


Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 


Colourad  plataa  and/or  illuatrations/ 


l— J   Planchaa  at/ou  illustrations  t*  coulaur 

□    Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
Raii4  avac  d'autraa  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cauaa  shadows  or  diatortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  III  ^re  sarrie  peut  cauaar  da  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distoraJon  la  long  da  la  marga  intAriaura 

Blank  leaves  added  during  reatoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainaa  pagee  blanches  aiout4es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaiaaam  dana  la  taxte, 
maia.  lorsqua  cela  4tait  poaaibla.  ces  pagaa  n'ont 
pas  *t«  film^aa. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentairea  supplimentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilmi  la  meiileur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  ttt  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
da  cat  exempleire  qui  tont  peut-4tre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  pauvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dana  la  mithoda  normale  de  filmaga 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pagaa/ 
Pagaa 


D 


Thia  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  da  rMuction  indiqu*  ci-daasous. 


10X 


14X 


18X 


22X 


Pagaa  da  coulaur 

Pagaa  damaged/ 
Pagea  andommagiaa 

Pagaa  reatorad  and/oi 

Pagaa  reataurAas  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxei 
Pages  dicoiortes.  tachaties  ou  piqutes 

Pagea  detached/ 
Pagaa  ditachtes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  inAgala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  matarii 
Comprend  du  matiriel  suppl4mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  idition  disponible 


r~1  Pagaa  damaged/ 

r*~|  Pagaa  reatorad  and/or  laminated/ 

r~7  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

rn  Pagaa  detached/ 

r~jn  Showthrough/ 

pn  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

r~1  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

rn  Only  edition  available/ 


Th«( 
totl» 


Thai 


Pagea  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
enaure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partiailement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmtes  i  nouveau  de  facon  A 
obtanir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


of  th 
filmii 


Origl 

bagii 

tha 

slon, 

othai 

firat 

aion. 

or  ill! 


Thai 
ahall 
TINii 
whic 

Map) 
dlffai 
antin 
bagif 
right 
raqui 
math 


26X 


30X 


7 


12X 


16X 


20X 


a«x 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  fllm«d  her*  hat  b««n  raproduoMl  thanks 
to  tho  gonorosity  of: 

DouglM  Library 
Quaan't  Univaraity 


L'axamplaira  film4  tut  raproduH  grica  i  la 
g4n4roalti  da: 

Douglas  Library 
Quaan's  Univaraity 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaaibia  conaMarlng  tha  condition  and  laglbility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacifieationa. 


Las  imagaa  auhrantaa  ont  it4  raproduitaa  avae  la 
plua  grand  aoin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condKlon  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  I'axamplaira  filmi,  at  an 
conformiti  avac  laa  conditiona  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  iMpar  covara  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  andlng  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  Impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
firat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
sion,  snd  andlng  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  impraaaion. 


Laa  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  aat  Imprim4a  aont  filmAa  an  commanfant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
damlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraaalon  ou  d'illuatration,  aoit  par  la  aacond 
ptart.  aalon  la  caa.  Toua  laa  autraa  axamplairas 
originaux  aont  filmfo  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraaalon  ou  d'illuatration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — »>  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  aymbol  y  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appliaa. 


Un  daa  aymbolaa  suhranta  ppparaftra  sur  la 
darnlAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la 
caa:  la  aymbola  -^>  signifia  "A  8UIVRE".  la 
symbola  ▼  algnifia  "FIN". 


Maps,  plataa,  charta.  ate.,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thoaa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  included  in  ona  axpoaura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  comar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framaa  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  illuatrata  tha 
mathod: 


Laa  cartaa.  planchaa.  tablaaux.  ate.  pauvant  Atra 
filmte  A  daa  taux  da  reduction  diffAranta. 
Loraqua  la  documant  aat  trap  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  aaul  clichA.  11  aat  filmA  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supAriaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  A  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  baa.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagaa  nAcaaaaira.  Laa  dlagrammaa  suivants 
iliuatrant  la  mAthoda. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

KINSSTON.  ONTARIO 


FALSE    HOPES: 


OK 


FALLACIES,  SOCIALISTIC  AND   SEMI-SOCIALISTIC, 


BRIEFL  Y  ANSWERED, 


%Xi  %.Mxtss. 


BT 


GOLDWIN     SMITH,    D.C.L. 


^■■: 


NEW  YORK: 
JOHN    W.    LOVELL    COMPANY, 

TORONTO:  WILLING  &  WILLIAMSON. 
•1883. 


.  ^iKuSiA 


■■^^r■■    ■         ■  ^-,f■ 


Copyright,  1883,  by 
JOHN  W.  LOVELL  COMPANY, 


"-^ 


FALSE  HOPES: 

OR,    FALLACIES,  SOCIALISTIC    AND 

SEMI  -  SOCIALISTIC,    BRIEFLY 

EXAMINED, 


The  belief  that  the  lot  of  man  can  be  equal- 
ized by  economical  change,  and  the  desire  to 
make  the  attempt,  are  at  present  strong :  thf.y 
are  giving  birth  to  a  multitude  of  projects,  and 
in  Europe  are  threatening  society  with  convul- 
sions. Eagerness  to  grasp  a  full  share  of  the 
good  things  of  this  world  has  been  intensified 
by  the  departure,  or  decline,  of  the  religious 
faith  which  held  out  to  the  unfortunate  in  this 


t  i  -"^733 


a 


FALSE  HOPES, 


life  the  hope  of  indemnity  in  another.  "  If  to- 
morrow we  die,  and  death  is  the  end,  to-day  le^ 
us  eat  and  drink;  and  if  we  have  not  the 
wherewithal,  let  us  see  if  we  cannot  take  from 
those  who  have.**  So  multitudes  are  saying  in 
their  hearts,  and  philosophy  has  not  yet  fur- 
nished a  clear  reply.  Popular  education  has 
%<i:it  far  enough  to  make  the  masses  think — 
not  far  enough  to  make  them  think  deeply; 
they  read  what  falls  in  with  their  aspirations, 
and  their  minds  run  in  the  groove  thus  formed ; 
flattering  theories  make  the  rapidly,  and,  like 
religious  doctrines,  are  imbibed  without  ex- 
amination by  credulous  and  uncritical  minds. 

The  numbers  of  Communists,  or  Socialists,  in 
any  country,  is  as  yet  small,  compared  with  that 

of  the  population  at  large;  yet  the  doctrines 

spread,  chiefly  among  the  artisan  class,  which 

is  active-minded,   is  gathered   in   commercial 

centres,  lives  on  wages  about  the  rate  of  which 


FALSE  HOPES.  3 

there  are  frequent  disputes,  is  filled  with  the 
thirst  of  pleasure  by  ever-present  temptations, 
and  stirred  to  envy  by  the  perpetual  sight  of 
wealth.  Envy  is  a  potent  factor  in  the  move- 
ment, and  is  being  constantly  inflamed  by  the 
ostentation  of  the  vulgar  rich,  who  thus  de- 
serve, fully  as  much  as  the  revolutionary  arti- 
sans, the  name  of  a  dangerous  class.  This 
is  the  main  source  of  that  extreme  sort  of 
Communism  which  may  be  called  Satanism, 
as  it  seeks,  not  to  reconstruct,  but  to  destroy 
and  to  destroy  not  only  existing  institutions, 
but  established  morality — social,  domestic,  and 
personal — ^putting  evil  in  place  of  good.  Satan- 
ism manifests  itself  in  different  countries  under 
various  forms  and  names — such  as  Nihilism, 
Intransigentism,  Petrolean  Communism,  the 
Dynamite  wing  of*  Fenianism  ;  Nihilism  being 
defined  with  more  startling  sharpness  than  the 

*  *  One  of  the  French  Communists,  it  seems,  rejoices  in  the  name 
Lucifer  Satan  Vercingetorix 


I 


4  FALSE  HOPES. 

rest,  though  the  destructive  spirit  of  all  is  the 
same.  Social  innovation  is  everywhere  more 
or  less  allied  with,  and  impelled  by,  the.  poli- 
tical and  religious  revolution  which  fills  the  civ- 
ilized world ;  while  the  revolution  in  science  has 
helped  to  excite  the  spirit  of  change  in  every 
sphere,  little  as  Utopianism  is  akin  to  science. 
No  man,  with  a  brain  and  a  heart,  can  fail 
to  be  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  the  unequal 
distribution  of  wealth,  or  to  be  willing  to  try 
any  experiment  which,,  may  hold  out  a  rea- 
sonable hope  of  putting  an  end  to  poverty.  By 
the  success  of  such  an  experiment,  the  happi- 
ness of  the  rich— of  such,  at  least,  of  them 
as  are  good  men — would  be  increased  far  more 
than  their  riches  would  be  diminished.  But 
only  the  Nihilists  would  desire  blindly  to 
plunge  society  into  chaos.  •  It  is  plainly  be- 
yond our  power  to  alter  the  fundamental  con- 
ditions of  our  being.    There  are  inequalities 


FALSE  HOPES.  % 

greater  even  than  those  of  wealth,  which  are 
fixed  not  by  human  lawgivers  but  by  nature 
such  as  th(>se  of  health,  strength,  and  intel- 
lectual power;  and  these,  almosf  inevitably, 
draw  other  inequalities  with  them.  The  most 
violent  shocks  given  to  the  social  system- 
such  as  the  French  Revolution — have  over^. 
turned  unjust  governments  and  laws,  though 
at  the  immediate  cost  of  much  confusion,  im- 
poverishment, and  suffering;  but  they  have 
failed  materially  to  diminish  the  inequalities 
of  wealth,  as  the  French  Communists  them- 
selves, by  their  passionate  complaints,  declare. 
Injustice  is  human,  and  where  inequality  is 
the  fiat,  not  of  man,  but  of  a  power  above 
man,  it  is  idle,  for  any  practical  purpose,  to 
assail  it  as  injustice.  The  difference  between 
a  gopd  and  a  bad  workman  is,  partly  at  least, 
the  act  of  nature ;  and  to  give  the  same  wages 
to  the  good  workman  and  the  bad,  as  Com- 


6  FALSE  HOPES. 

munists  propose,  might  be  just  from  some 
superhuman  point  of  view:  from  the  only  point 
of  view  to  which  humanity  can  attain,  it  would 
be  unjust. 

The  plans  of  innovation  proposed  vary  much 
in  character  and  extent.  Those  which  here 
will  be  briefly  passed  in  review  are  Com- 
munism, Socialism,  Nationalization  of  Land, 
Strikes,  plans  for  emancipating  Labor  from 
the  dominion  of  Capital,  and  theories  of  in- 
novation with  regard  to  Currency  and  Banks, 
the  most  prominent  of  which  is  Greenbackism, 
or  the  belief  in  paper  money.  This  seems 
a  motley  group,  but  it  will  be  seen  on  exam- 
ination, that  there  runs  through  the  whole 
the  same  hope  of  bettering  the  condition  of 
the  masses  without  increase-  of  industry,  or  of 
the  substantial  elements  of  wealth.  Through 
several  there  runs  a  tendency  to  violence  and 
confiscation.     It  may  be  safely  said,  that  all  the 


FALSE  HOPES.  7 

movements  draw  their  adherents  from  minds 
of  the  same  speculative  class,  and  that  indus- 
trial revolution  is  not  often  recruited  from  the 
ranks  of  steady  and  prosperous  industry. 

By  Communism  is  here  meant  the  proposal 
to  -abrogate  altogether  the  institution  of  prop- 
erty.  The  reply  is  that  property  is  not  an  insti- 
tution  but  a  fixed  element  of  human  nature.  A 
state  of  things  in  which  a  man  would  not  think 
that  what  he  had  made  for  himself  was  his  own, 
is  unknown  to  experience  and  beyond  the  range 
of  our  conceptions.  The  author  of  the  saying 
that  property  is  theft  affirmed,  by  his  use  of  the 
word  theft,  the  rightful  existence  of  property, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  as  a  literary  man 
he  would  have  asserted  his  claim  to  copyright, 
which  is  property  in  its  subtlest  form.  In  early 
times  propert)'  in  land  was  not  individual  but 
tribal;  it  is  so  still  in  Afghanistan,  while  in 
Russia  and  Hindostan  it  is  vested  in  the  village 


8  FALSE  HOPES. 

community  whicli  assigns  lots  to  the  individual 
cultivators :  still  it  is  property :  squat  upon  the 
land  of  an  Afghan  tribe,  or  of  a  village  com- 
munity, Russian  or  Hindoo,  in  the  name  of  hu- 
manity,  and  you  will  be  ejected  as  certainly  as 
if  you  had  squatted  on  the  land  of  an  English 
Squire.  In  primitive  hunting-grounds  and  pas- 
tures, property  was  less. definite;  yet  even  these 
would  have  been  defended  against  a  rival  tribe. 
Property  in  clothes,  utensils,  arms,  must  always 
have  been  individual.  Declare  that  everything 
belongs  to  the  community ;  still  government  must 
allot  each  citizen  his  rations ;  as  soon  as  he  re- 
ceives them  the  rations  will  be  his  own,  and  if 
another  tries  to  take  them  he  will  resist,  and  by 
his  resistance  affirm  the  principle  of  individual 
propert3r. 

Religious  societies,  in  the  fervor  of  their 
youth,  have  for  a  short  time  sought  to  seal  the 
brotherhood  of  their  members  by  instituting 


Iter. 


FALSE  HOPES,  9 

within  their  own  circle  a  community  of  goods. 
The  primitive  Christians  did  this,  but  they  never 
thought  of  abolishing  property  or  proclaiming 
the  communistic  principle  to  society  at  large. 
Paul,  in  is  Epistles,  on  the  contrary,  distinctly 
ratifies  the  ordinary  principle  of  industry. 
"  While  the  land  remained,"  says  Peter  to  An- 
anias, **  did  it  not  remain  thine  own ;  and  after 
it  was  sold  was  it  not  in  thy  power  ? "  Christian 
communism,  so-called,  was  in  fact  merely  a 
benefit  fund  or  club :  it  was  also  short-lived  ; 
as  was  the  communism  of  the  Monastic  orders, 
which  soon  gave  way  to  individual  proprietor- 
ship on  no  ordinary  scale  in  the  persons  of  the 
abbots. 

Associations,  called  communistic,  have  been 
founded  in  the  United  States.  But  these  have  been 
nothing  more  than  common  homes  for  a  small 
number  of  people,  living  together  as  one  house- 
hold on  a  joint-stock  fund.    Their  relations  to 


10  FALSE  HOPES. 

the  community  at  large  have  been  of  the  ordi- 
nary commercial  kind.  The  Oneida  Community 
owned  works  carried  on  by  hired  labor  and 
dealt  with  the  outside  world  like  any  other 
manufacturer ;  nor  did  it  make  any  attempt  to 
propagate  communistic  opinions.  A  religious 
dictatorship  seems  essential  to  the  unity  and 
peace  of  these  households ;  but  where  they  have 
prospered  economically,  the  secret  of  their  suc- 
cess has  been  the  absence  of  children,  which 
limited  their  expenses  and  enabled  them  to  save 
money.  Growing  wealthy  they  have  ceased  to 
proselytize,  and,  if  celibacy  was  kept  up,  have 
become  tontines.  They  afford  no  proof  what- 
ever of  the  practicability  of  communism  as  a 
universal  system.  '  'r^^M^  .y  M^dilL 

Slavery  has  its  whip ;  but,  saving  this,  no 
general  incentive  to  labor  other  than  property 
has  yet  been  devised.  Communists  think  that 
they  can  rely  on  love  of  the  community,  and 


FALSE  HOPES.  x\ 

they  point  to  the  case  of  the  soldier  who  they 
say  does  his  duty  voluntarily  from  a  sense  of 
military  honor.  It  is  replied  that  so  far  from  be- 
ing voluntary,  a  soldier's  duty  is  prescribed  by  a 
code  of  exceptional  severity,  enforced  by  penal- 
ties of  the  sternest  kind. 

That  the  family  and  all  its  affections  are 
closely  bound  up  with  property  is  evident ;  and 
the  Nihilist  is  consistent  in  seeking  to  destroy 
property  and  the  family  together. 

Tracing  property  to  its  source,  we  find  it  has 
its  origin,  as  a  general  rule,  not  in  theft  but  in 
labor,  either  of  the  hand  or  of  the  brain,  and  in 
the  frugality  by  which  the  fruits  of  labor  have 
been  saved.  In  the  case  of  property  which  has 
been  inherited,  we  may  have  to  ^o  back  genera- 
tions in  order  to  reach  this  fact,  but  we  come  to 
the  fact  at  last.  Wherever  the  labor  has  been 
honest,  good  we  may  be  sure  has  been  done, 
and  the  wealth  of  society  at  large,  as  well  as 


12 


FALSE  HOPES, 


that  of  the  worker,  has  been  increased  in  the 
process.  Some  property  has,  of  course,  been 
acquired  by  bad  means,  such  as  stock-jobbing 
or  gambling ;  and  if  we  could  only  distinguish 
this  from  the  rest,  confiscation  might  be  just ; 
for  there  is  nothing  sacred  in  property  apart 
from  the  mode  in  which  it  has  been  acquired. 
But  discrimination  is  impossible :  all  that  we 
can  do  is  to  discourage  as  much  as  possible 
bad  modes  of  acquisition.  Hereditary  wealth, 
owned  by  those  who  have  themselves  not 
worked  for  it,  strikes  us  as  injustice.  But  what 
can  be  done  ?  Bequest  is  merely  a  death- 
bed gift:  if  we  forbid  a  man  to  bequeath  his 
wealth,  he  will  give  it  away  in  his  lifetime, 
rather  than  leave  it  to  be  confiscated,  and  a 
great  inducement  to  saving  will  be  lost. 

That  wealth  is  often  abused,  fearfully  abused, 
is  too  true :  so  are  strength,  intellect,  power  and 
opportunities  of  all  kinds.    It  is  also  true  that 


FALSE  HOPES,  13 

nothing  can  be  more  miserable,  or  abject,  than 
to  live  in  idleness  by  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
brows.  But  this  is  felt,  in  an  increasing  degree, 
by  the  better  natures ;  private  fortunes  are  held 
more  and  more  subject  to  the  claims  of  the^ 
community :  a  spontaneous  communism  is  thus 
making  way,  and  notably,  as  every  observer 
will  see,  in  the  United  States.  In  the  mean- 
time, though  the  sight  of  wealth,  no  doubt,  adds 
a  moral  sting  to  poverty,  its  increase,  instead  of 
aggravating,'  improves  the  lot  even  of  the  poor- 
est. In  wealthy  communities,  the  destitute  are 
relieved :  in  the  savage  state  they  die. 

By  Socialism  is  meant  the  theory  of  those  who 
for  free  markets,  competition,  liberty  of  private 
contract,  and  all  the  present  agencies  of  com- 
merce, propose  in  various  degrees  to  introduce 
the  regulation  and  payment  of  industry  by  "  the 
State."  What  is  the  State  ?  People  seem  to 
suppose  that  there  is  something  outside  and 


ii 


14  FALSE  HOPES, 

above  the  members  of  the  community  which 
answers  to  this  name,  and  which  has  duties  and 
a  wisdom  of  its  own.  But  duties  can  attach 
only  to  persons,  wisdom  can  reside  only  in 
brains.  The  State,  when  you  leave  al)stractions 
and*  come  to  facts,  is  nothing  but  the  govern- 
ment, which  can  have  no  duties  but  those 
which  the  Constitution  assigns  it,  nor  any  wis- 
dom but  that  which  is  ififused  into  it  by  the 
mode  of  appointment  or  election.  What,  then, 
is  the  "^government  which  Socialism  would  set 
up,  and  to  which  it  would  intrust  powers  infin- 
itely greater  than  those  which  any  ruler  has 
ever  practically  wielded,  with  duties  infinitely 
harder  than  those  which  the  highest  political 
wisdom  has  ever  dared  to  undertake  ?  This  is 
the  first  question  which  the  Socialist  has  to 
answer.  His  school  denounces  all  existing 
governments,  and  all  those  of  the  past,  as  in- 
competent and  unjust.     What  does  he  propose 


FALSE  HOPES.  15 

to  institute  in  their  room,  and  by  what  process, 
elective  or  of  any  other  kind,  is  the  change  to 
be  made  ?  Where  will  he  find  the  human  ma- 
terial  out  of  which  he  can  frame  this  earthly 
Providence,  infallible  and  incorruptible,  whose 
award  shall  be  unanimously  accepted  as  superior 
to  all  existing  guarantees  for  industrial  justice  ? 
The  chiefs  of  industry  are  condemned  before- 
hand as  tyrannical  capitalists.  Will  jthe  artisan 
submit  willingly  to'"the  autocratic  rule  of  his 
brother?  This  question,  once  more,  presents 
itself  on  the  threshold  and  demands  an  answer. 
To  accept  an  unlimited  and  most  searching 
despotism  without  knowing  in  whose  hands  it 
is  to  be  entrusted  would  evidently  be  sheer  mad- 
ness. It  is  idle  to  form  theories,  whether 
economical  or  social,  without  considering  the 
actual  circumstances  under  which  they  are  to 
b^  applied,  and  the  means  and  possibilities  of 
carrying  them  into  effect. 


i6 


FALSE  HOPES. 


Despotic  the  Socialist's  government  must  be, 
in  order  to  secure  submission  to  its  assignment 
of  industrial  parts  and  to  its  award  of  wages, 
which  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the  amount  or 
quality  of  the  work,  but  by  some  higher  law  of 
benevolence,  as  well  as  to  enable  it  to  compel 
indolence  to  work  at  all.  Its  power,  prac- 
tically, must  be  made  to  extend  beyond  the 
sphere  of  industry  to  those  of  social,  domes- 
tic and  individual  life.  ""Resistance  to  its 
decrees  could  not  be  permitted,  nor  could  it 
be  deposed  in  case  of  tyranny  or  abuse. 
Liberty,  in  short,  would  be  at  an  end,  and  with 
liberty  progress.  All  Utopias  are  assumed  by 
their  inventors  to  be  the  last  birth  of  time. 

Assignment  of  manual  labor  and  payment 
for  its  performance  by  a  paternal  government 
are  conceivable,  though  not  practically  feasible. 
But  how  could  men  be  told  off  for  intellectual 

m 

I 

labor,  for   scientific  research,  for    invention? 


FALSE  HOPES.  17 

Could  the  Socialistic  ruler  pick  out  a  Shake- 
speare, a  Newton,  or  an  Arkwright,  set  him  to 
his  work  and  pay  him  while  he  was  about  it  ? 
Socialism  would  be  barbarism.  Of  the  artisans 
who  applaud  these  theories  all  whose  trades 
minister  to  literature,  art,  or  refinement  would 
be  in  danger  of  finding  themselves  without 
work. 

Socialists  often  propose  to  cut  up  the  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  world  into  phalan- 
steries, or  sections  of  some  kind,  for  the  purposes 
of  their  organization.  But  industry  and  com- 
merce are  networks  covering  the  whole  globe. 
To  whal  phalanstery  would  the  sailors,  the 
railway  men,  and  the  traders  between  different 
countries,  be  assigned  ? 

Take  any  complex  product  of  human  labor, 
say,  a  piece  of  cotton  goods  worth  a  cent 
Let  the  Socialist  trace  out,  as  far  as  thought 
will  go,  the'  industries  which,  in  various  ways, 


i6 


FALSE  HOPES, 


and  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  have  con- 
tributed to  the  production,  including  the  mak- 
ing of  machinery,  ship-building,  and  all  the 
employments  and  branches  of  trade  ancillary  to 
these :  let  him  consider  how,  by  the  operation 
of  economic  law,  under  the  system  of  industrial 
liberty,  the  single  cent  is  distributed  among  all 
these  industries  justly,  "even  to  the  estimation 
of  a  hair,"  and  then  let  him  ask  himself  whether 
his  government,  or  his  group  of  governments, 
is  likely  to  do  better  than  nature.  If  it  does,  it 
will,  indeed,  be  a  miracle  of  political  construc- 
tion. ^      -'   •  ' 

The  action  of  government  in  regard  to  in- 
dustry  has  been  of  late  a  good  deal  enlarged  in 
the  way  of  Factory  Acts,  sanitary  regulations, 
and  provisions  for  the  safety  of  workmen.  Pos- 
sibly it  may  be  susceptible  of  still  further 
enlargement,  with  benefit  to  the  community. 
But  at  each  step   you  incur,  especially  under 


FALSE  HOPES.  \^ 

the  elective  and  party  system,  new  dangers 
of  error,  abuse,  and  corruption.  Division  of 
labor,  as  Adam  Smith  has  shown,  marks  the 
progress  of  civilization ;  and  a  centralization, 
which  should  reduce  all  functions  to  those  of  a 
single  organ,  would  be  not  an  advance,  but 
a  degradation,  in  the  political  as  in  the  animal 
world.  The  National  workshops  at  Paris  were 
a  complete  failure,  and  even  the  Government 
dockyards  in  England,  though  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  exigencies  of  national  defence* 
are  conducted  less  economically  than  private 
ship-yards. 

A  special  form  of  Socialism  is  Agrarianism, 
which  demands  the  Nationalization  of  Land. 
This  has  received  an  impulse  from  recent  legis- 
lation for  Ireland.  Not  that  the  Irish  tenant 
farmer  is  an  agrarian  socialist,  or  a  socialist 
^f  any  kind :  what  he  wants  is  to  oust  the  land- 
lord, and  have  the  farm   to  himself;  if  you 


20 


FALSE  HOPES, 


\A 


demand,  as   a  member  of   the   community,  a 

• 

share  of  his  land,  he  will  give  you  six  feet  of  it; 
he  exacts  a  heavy  rent  for  a  little  croft  from  the 
farm  laborer  in  his  employment.  The  sirens  of 
Nationalization  have  sung  to  him  in  vain.  Nor 
did  the  framers  of  the  Land  Act  intend  to 
abrogate  or  assail  private  property  in  land: 
they  intended  only  to  adjust  by  legislation 
a  dispute  between  two  classes  of  property- 
holders  which  threatened  the  peace  of  the 
State.  But  the  natural  consequences  have 
been  a  general  disturbance  of  ideas,  and  an  in- 
crease of  hope  and  activity  among  the  apostles 
of  agrarian  plunder. 

By  these  theorists  it  is  proposed  to  confis- 
cate, either  openly,  or  under  the  thin  disguise 
of  a  predatory  use  of  the  taxing  power,  every 
man's  freehold,  even  the  farm  which  the  settler 
has  just  reclaimed  by  the  sweat  of  his  own 
brow  from  the  wilderness ;  and  it  is  emphati- 


FALSE  HOPES. 


21 


cally  added,  with  all  the  exultation  of  insolent 
injustice,  that  no  compensation  is  to  be  allowed. 
That  the  State  has,  by  the  most  solemn  and 
repeated  guarantees,  ratified  private  proprietor- ' 
ship  and  undertaken  to  protect  it,  matters 
nothing;. nor  even  that  it  has  itself  recently 
sold  the  land  to  the  proprietor,  signed  the  deed 
of  sale,  and  received  the  payment.  That  such 
views  can  be  propounded  anywhere  but  in 
a  robber's  den  or  a  lunatic  asylum,  still  more, 
that  they  can  find  respectful  hearers,  is  a  proof 
that  the  economical  world  is  in  a  state  of  curi- 
ous perturbation. 

In  the  first  place,  how  do  the  Nationaliz- 
ers  mean  to  carry  into  effect  their  schemes  of 
confiscation  ?  They  can  hardly  suppose  that 
large  classes  will  allow  themselves  to  be 
stripped  of  all  they  possess,  and  turned  out 
with  their  wives  and  children  to  beggary,  with- 
out  striking  a  blow  for  their  freeholds.      There 


22 


FALSE  HOPES. 


will  at  once  be  civil  war,  in  which  it  is  by 
no  means  certain  that  the  agrarian  philosopher 
and  his  disciples  would  get  the  better  of 
the  owners  and  tillers  of  land.  Utopians  forget 
that  they  have  to  deal  with  the   world  as   it 

IS.  i    m-    ■    ■  ':i\^    '  -  -'::-i  ■■?■--'■'"  >■  -     ■ 

In  the  second  place,  as  it  is  to  the  govern- 
ment that  all  land,  or  the  rent  of  all  land,  is 
to  be  made  over,  we  must  ask   the  agrarian 
socialist,  as  well  as  the  general  socialist,  what 
form  of  government  he  means  to  give  us  ?   The 
theorists  themselves  denounce,  as  loudly  as  any 
one,  the  knavery  and  corruption  of  the  poli- 
ticians, who  would  hardly  be  made  pure  and 
upright  simply  by  putting   the   management 
of  fabulous  revenues  into  their  hands.      Paying 
rent  for  all  real  estate  to  the  Bosses  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  singular  way  of  regenerating  society. 
Once  more,  then,  what  is  the  form  of  govern- 
ment which  the  Nationalizers  have  in  view? 


FALSE  HOPES,  "     23 

It  would  be  instructive,  if  they  could  furnish 
us,  at  the  same  time,  with  a  sketch  of  the  Land 
Department  of  the  future,  with  its  staff ^  the  use 
which  it  will  make  of  its  funds,  and  the  means 
by  which  it  will  be  controlled  and  guarded 
against  corruption. 

Why  is  property  in  land  thus  singled  out  for 
forfeiture ;  and  why  are  its  holders  selected  for 
robbery  and  denunciation  ?  Because,  say  the 
Nationalizers,  the  land  is  the  gift  .of  God  to 
mankind,  and  ought  not  to  be  appropriated 
by  any  individual  owner.  This  would  preclude 
appropriation  by  a  nation,  as  well  as  appropri- 
ation by  a  man;  but  let  that  pass.  In  every 
article  which  we  use,  in  the  paper  and  t}'pe  of 
the  very  book  which  advocates  confiscation, 
there  are  raw  materials  and  natural  forces, 
which  are  just  as  much  the  gift  of  God  as 
the  land.  God  made  the  wool  of  which  your 
coat  is  woven  to  grow  on  the  sheep*s  back,  and 


i 


24     '  FALSE  HOPES. 

endowed  steam  with  the  power  to  work  the 
engine  of  the  mill.  Land  is  worth  nothing,  it 
is  worth  no  more  than  the  same  extent  of  sea, 
till  it  is  brought  under  cultivation  by  labor, 
which  must  be  that  of  particular  men.  This, 
Canadian  Colonization  Companies  are  learning 
to  their  cost.  If  the  State,  in  resuming  posses- 
sion of  the  land,  were  compelled,  like  a  land- 
lord in  Ireland,  to  give  compensati6n  for  im- 
provements, it  would  have  to  pay  the  full  value 
of  the  land.  The  value  is  the  creation  of  in- 
dividual labor  and  capital,  in  this  case,  as  in  the 
pase  of  a  manufacture.  Circumstances,  such 
as  the  growth  of  neighboring  cities,  may  favor 
the  landowner.  Circumstances  may  favor  any 
owner  or  producer.  They  may  also  be  un- 
favorable to  any  owner  or  producer,  as  they 
have  been  of  late  to  the  landowners  and  agri- 
cultural producers  in  England ;  and  unless  the 
State  means  to  protect  the  holder  of  property 


'  FALSE  HOPES,  25 

against  misfortune  it  has  surely  no  right  to 
mulct  him  for  his  good  luck. 

Nor  is  there  anything  specially  unjust,  or, 
in  any  way  peculiar,  about  the  mode  in  which 
the  laborer  on  land  is  paid  by  the  landowner  or 
capitalist.  Every  laborer  draws  his  pay  from 
the  moment  when  he  begins  his  work.  He 
draws  it  in  credit,  which  enables  him  to  get 
what  he  wants  at  the  store,  if  not  at  once 
in  cash. 

All  land  will,  of  course,  fall  under  the  same 
rule.  The  lot  on  which  the  mechanic  has 
built  his  house,  will  be  confiscated  as  wellj 
as  the  ranch.  Not  only  so,  but  the  pro- 
duce, being  equally  with  the  land  the  gift  of 
the  Creator,  will  be  exempt  from  the  possibility 
of  lawful  ownership,  and  we  shall  be  justified  in 
repudiating  our  milk  bills  because  cows  feed 
on  grass. 

Is  Poverty  the  offspring  of  land-ownership  or 


26 


FALSE  HOPES, 


'  I 
i«  I 


the  land  laws?  Any  one  who  is  not  sailing 
on  the  wings  of  a  theory  can  answer  that 
question  by  looking  at  the  facts  before  his 
eyes.  Poverty  springs  from  many  sources,  per- 
sonal and  general, — from  indolence,  infirmity, 

• 

age,  disease,  intemperance;  from  the  failure 
of  harvests  and  the  decline  of  local  trade ;  from 
the  growth  of  population  beyond  the  means  of 

subsistence.      If  the  influence  of  the  last  cause 

* 

is  denied,  let  it  be  shown  what  impelled  the 
migrations  by  which  the  earth  has  been  peo- 
pled. Poverty  has  existed  on  a  large  scale 
in  great  commercial  cities,  which  the  land  laws 
could  but  little  affect,  and  even  in  cities  like 
Venice,  which  had  no  land  at  all.  The  sup- 
posed increase  of  poverty  itself  is  a  fiction; 
at  least,  it  is  a  fallacy.  The  number  of  people, 
in  all  civilized  countries,  living  in  plenty  and 
comfort,  has  multiplied  a  hundredfold;  and 
though,  with  a  vast  increase  in  numbers,  there  is 


sailing 
er  that 
ore  his 
:es,  per- 
ifirmity, 

• 

failure 
e;  from 
neans  of 
,st  cause 
lied  the 
een  peo- 
ge  scale 
md  laws 
ties  like 
rhe  sup- 
fiction; 
E  people, 
:nty  and 
)ld;  and 
;,  there  is 


FALSE  HOPES,  a; 

necessarily  a  certain  increase  of  misfortune, 
even  the  poorest  are  not  so  ill  off  now  as  they 
were  in  the  times  of  primitive  barbarism,  when 
famine  stalked  through  the  unsettled  tribes, 
though  there  was  no  "  monopoly  "  of  land. 

We  cannot  all  be  husbandmen  or  personally 
make  any  use  of  land.  What  we  want,  as 
a  community,  is  that  the  soil  shall  produce 
as  much  food  as  possible,  so  that  we  may 
all  live  in  plenty;  and  facts,  as  well  as  rea- 
son, show  that  a  high  rate  of  production  can 
be  attained  only  where  tenure  is  secure.  The 
greater  the  security  of  tenure,  the  more  of 
his  labor  and  capital  the  husbandman  will 
put  into  the  land,  and  the  larger  the  harvest 
will  be.  The  spur  which  proprietorship  lends 
to.  industry,  is  proverbially  keen  in  the  case  of 
ownership  of  land.  Originally,  all  ownership 
was  tribal;  and  if  tribal  ownership  has,  in  all 
civilized  countries,  given  place  to  private  owner- 


ii 


28 


FALSE  HOPES. 


\\ 


1 
I 


ship,  this  is  the  verdict  of  experience  in  favor 
of  the  present  system.  To  suppose  that  a  com- 
pany of  land-grabbers  aggressed  upon  the  pub- 
lic property,  and  set  up  a  monopoly  in  their 
own  favor,  is  a  fancy  as  baseless  as  the  figments 
of  Rousseau.     That  we  have  all  a  right  to  live 

• 

upon  the  land,  is  a  proposition,  in  one  sense, 
absurd,  unless  the  cities  are  to  be  abandoned, 

and  we  are  to  revert  to  the  normal  state ;  in 
another  sense,  true,  though  subject  to  the  neces- 
sary limit  of  population.  But  what  the  Nation- 
alizers  practically  propose  is,  that  a  good  many 
of  us,  instead  of  living,  shall,  by  reduced  pro- 
duction, be  deprived  of  bread  and  die.  The 
first  consequence  of  their  universal  confiscation 
will  be  a  universal  disturbance  of  husbandry 
and  thus  while  their  age  of  improved  morality 
will  open  with  a  general  robbery,  their  age 
of  felicity  will  open  with  a  famine.  ^  </;.:£ 
,  Do   they   intend   that  the   tenure   of  those 


FALSE  HOPES,  29 

who  are  to  hold  the  land  under  the  State  shall 
be  secure  ?     If  they  do,  nothing  will  have  been 
gained;  private  property,  and  what,  to  excite 
odium,  they  call  monopoly,  though  there  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  proprietors,  will  return 
under  another  form.      The  only  result  of  their 
grand  reform  will  be  a  change  of  the  name 
from  freeholder  to  something  expressive  of  con- 
cession in  perpetuity  by  the  State;    and  this 
will  be  obtained  at  the  expense  of  a  shock  to 
agricultural    industry,   the    probable  effect  of 
which,  as  has  been  already  said,  would  be  a 
famine.     Nothing  so  practical  as  a  plan  for 
effecting  the  change  without  ruinous   distur- 
bance appears  ever  to  have  entered  their  minds- 
But  the   truth  is,  that  some  of  them   almost 
openly  revel  in  the  prospect  of  widespread  mis- 
chief.      ,      ;    ,  . -c 

When  we  talk  of  Nationalizing,  it  is  well  to 
remember,  that  though  territory  is  still  national, 


30  FALSE  HOPES. 

nations  no  longer  live  upon  the  produce  of  their 
own  territory  alone,  and  that  the  scope  of  plans 
of  change  must  be  enlarged  so  as  to  embrace 
the  commercial  world.  / 

A  milder  school  of  agrarian  socialists  pro- 
poses to  confiscate  only  what  it  calls  the  un- 
earned increment  of  land — that  is,  any  addi- 
tional value  which,  from  time  to  time,  may 
accrue  through  the  action  of  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances and  the  general  progress  of  the 
community,  without  exertion  or  outlay  on  tJie 
part  of  the  individual  owner.  Very  sharp  and 
skilful  inspectors  would  be  required  to  watch 
the  increase  and  to  draw  the  line.  A  question 
might  also  arise,  whether,  if  unearned  incre- 
ment is  to  be  taken  away,  accidental  decrement 
ought  not  to  be  made  good.  But  here,  again, 
we  must  ask,  why  landed  property  alone  is 
to  be  treated  in  this  way?  Property  of  any 
kind  may  grow  more  valuable  without  effort  or 


FALSE  HOPES.  31 

outlay  on  the  owner's  part.  Is  the  State  to 
seize  upon  all  the  premium  on  stocks?  A 
mechanic  buys  a  pair  of  boots,  the  next  day 
leather  goes  up;  is  the  State  to  take  toll  of 
the  mechanic's  boots  ?  . 

The  fact  is,  that  the.  vision  of  certain  econo- 
mists is  distorted,  and  their  views  are  narrowed 
by  hatred  of  the  landlord  class.  Too  many 
landlords  are  idle  and  useless  members  of 
society,  especially  in  old  countries,  under  the 
operation  of  lingering  feudal  laws;  but  owners 
of  other  kinds,  of  hereditary  property  are  often 
idle  and  useless  too.  That  the  land  should 
have  been  so  improved  as  to  be  able  to  pay 
the  owner  as  well  as  the  cultivator,  does  the 
community  no  harm.  This  we  see  plainly, 
where  the  owner,  instead  of  being  a  rich 
man,  is  a  charitable  institution.  Nor,  is  any 
outcry  raised,   when    the  same   person,  being 


"A 


owner  and  cultivator,  unites  with   the  wages 


II 


!! 


59  FALSh    hrOPES. 

of  one  the  revenue  of  the  other.  The  be- 
lief that  there  is  some  evil  mystery  in  renti 
has  been  fostered  by  the  metaphysical  dis- 
quisitions  of  economists,  who  seem  to  have 
been  entrapped  by  their  ignorance  of  any 
language  but  one.  Rent  is  nothing  but  the 
hire  ot  land,  and  there  is  no  more  mystery 
about  it  than  there  is  about  the  hire  of  a 
machine  or  a  horse.  In  Greek,  the  word  for 
the  hire  of  land  and  of  a  chattel  is  the  same. 

The  desire  of  confiscating  the  property  of 
landowners  is,  in  European  ceuntries,  closely 
connected  with  the  objects  of  political  revo- 
lution. But  public  spoliation,  though  it  might 
commence,  would  not  end  here,  nor  would 
there  be  any  ground  for  fixing  this  as  its 
limit.  Let  a  reason  be  given  for  confiscating 
real  estate  and  the  same  reason  will  hold  good 
for  confiscating  personal  estate,  the  laborer's 
wages,  and,  we  may  add,  the  copyright  of  the 


FALSE  HOPES.  33 

author  and  the  plant  of  the  journalist  who 
courts  popularity  jr  panders  to  envious  malig- 
'  nity  by  advocating  the  pillage  of  his  neighbor. 
If  property  is  theft,  the  property  in  the  Savings 
Bank  is  theft  like  the  rest. 

Peasant  proprietorship  is  as  much  opposed 
as  anything  can  possibly  be  to  nationalization 
of  land.  So  the  Nationalizers,  when  they  ap- 
proach the  peasant  proprietor,  speedily  find. 
But  there  are  some  who  look  to  it  with  un- 
bounded hope.  The  political  arguments  in 
its  favor  are  well  known;  among  them  is  the 
adamantine  resistance  which  it  offers  to  com- 
munism of  all  kinds.  Economical  considera- 
•  tions  are  fatally  against  it,  since  a  farmer  on 
the  great  scale  in  Dakota  will  raise  as  much 
grain  with  a  hundred  laborers  as  is  raised  by 
ten  times  the  number  of  French  peasants.  So- 
cially there  are  arguments  both  ways ;  but  the 
life  of  the  peasant  in   France,  and  even   in 


34:  FALSE  HOPES,      >      v, 

Switzerland,  is  hard,  and  almost  barbarousi 
while  he  can  scarcely  tide  over  a  bad  harvest 
without  falling  into  the  money-lender's  hands. 
On  this  continent,  where  the  people  are  more 
educated,  their  tendency  seems  to  be,  when 
they  can,  to  exchange  life  on  the  farm,  which 
they  find  dull  and  lonely,  for  the  more  social 
life  of  the  city.  Perhaps  the  time  may  come 
when  agriculture  will  be  carried  on  scientifi- 
cally, and  upon  a  large  scale,  to  furnish  food 
for  an  urban  population.  The  life  of  the  staff 
on  a  great  farm  will  not  be  unsocial,  while 
it  will  exercise  far  higher  intelligence  than 
does  spade  labor,  which,  in  truth,  calls  for 
no  intelligence  at  all.       •  ',      I 


%)  I 


Liberation  of  labor  from  the  extortion  of 
the  capitalist  is  the  hope  of  those  who  set 
on  foot  co-operative  works.  These  have  hithe^tto 
failed   from  inability  to   wait  for  the  market, 


FALSE  HOPES.  35 

and  tide  over  bad  times,  from  want  of  a  guid- 
ing hand,  and  from  the  unwillingness  of  the 
artisan  to  resign  his  independence  and  his 
liberty  of  moving  from  place  to  place ;  though 
the  last  cause  is  less  operative  with  the  sociable 
and  submissive  Frenchman  than  with  his  sturdy 
English  compeer.  Capital,  spelt  with  a  big 
initial  letter,  swells  into  a  malignant  giant — 
the  personal  enemy  of  labor;  spelt  in  the 
natural  way,  it  is  simply  that  with  which  labor 
starts  on  any  enterprise,  and  without  which 
no  labor  can  start  at  all,  unless  it  be  that  of 
the  savage  grubbing  roots  with  his  nails.  It 
includes  a  spade  as  well  as  factory  plant  that 
has  cost  millions;  it  includes  everything  laid 
out  in  education  or  training.  We  might  as 
w^ell  talk  of  emancipating  ourselves  from  the 
^  tyranny  of  food  or  air.  Every  co-operative 
asi^ociation  must  have  some  capital  to  begin 
with,  either  of  its  own  or  borrowed,  the  lender, 


I!! 


36  FALSE  HOPES. 

in  the  latter  case,  representing  the  power  of 
large  capital  just  as  much  as  any  employer. 
The  aggregation  of  great  masses  of  capital 
in  one  man's  hands  is  a  social  danger,  and  one 
against  which  legislators  ought,  by  all  fair 
means,  to  guard,  though  it  is  sometimes  not 
without  a  good  aspect ;  witness  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  which  could  hardly  have  been 
brought  to  its  present  state  by  managers  under 
the  necessity  of  providing  an  equally  large 
dividend  every  year.  But  the  operation  of  the 
joint-stock  principle,  it  seems,  is  evidently  pro- 
ducing a  gradual  change  in  this  respect.  It 
will  often  be  found  that  the  rate  of  profit  made 
by  a  great  capitalist  is  far  from  excessive, 
though  his  total  gains  may  be  large.  Mr. 
-  Brassey's  total  gains  were  large,  but  the  rate  of 
his  profits  did  not  exceed  five  per  cent,  while  it 
is  very  certain  that  without  him  ten  thousand 
workmen,  destitute  of  capital,  scientific  skill,  and 


FALSE  HOPES.  37 

powers  of  command,  could  not  have  built  the 
Victoria  Bridge.  Co-operative  farming  seems 
to  hold  out  more  hope  than  co-operative  man- 
ufactures. Still  it  would  need  capital  and  a 
head.  '  '     * 

To  get  rid  of  competition,  and  substitute  for 
it  fraternity  among  workers,  is  the  other  aim  of 
co-operation.  But  the  co-operative  societies 
must  compete  with  each  other,  while,  as  buyers, 
having  regard  to  cheapness  in  their  purchases, 
they  will  themselves  be  always  ratifying  the 
principle  of  competition,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
that  of  paying  the  workman  not  on  the  frater- 
nal principle,  but  according  to  the  amount  and 
value  of  his  work.  Every  heart  must  be  touched 
b^  fraternity  and  wish  that  co-operation 
could  take  the  place  of  competition,  which,  in 
its  grinding  severity,  is  too  like  many  other 
tftings  in  this  hard  world.  But,  after  all,  choose 
any  manufactured  article ;  •  consider  the  multi- 


38  FALSE   HOPES, 

tude  of  people  who  in  various  trades  and  differ- 
ent countries  have  co-operated  in  the  pro- 
duction, yet  have  not  competed  with  each  ; 
other ;  and  you  will  see  that,  even  as  things  are, 
there  is  more  of  co-operation  than  of  competi- 
tion among  the  workers.  ,       ^; 

Co-operative  stores  have  nothing  but  a  mis- 
leading name  in  common  with  co-operative 
works.  They  simply  bring  the  consumer  into 
direct  relation  with  the  producer,  and  give  him 
the  benefit  of  wholesale  prices,  which  may  be 
perfectly  well  done,  so  long  as  the  officers  of 
the  association  can  be  trusted  to  exercise  for 
the  society  the  same  degree  of  skill  and  in. 
tegrity  in  the  selection  of  goods  which  the 
retail  tradesman  exercises  for  himself.  Stores, 
however,  of  the  ordinary  kind,  but  on  a  large 
scale,  like  that  of  A.  T.  Stewart,  with  low 
prices,  and,  best  of  all,  ready-money  payment, 
afford  the  practical  benefits  of  co-operation. 


FALSE   HOPES,  39 

From  Unionism  and  strikes,  again,  too  much 
has  been  hoped  by  the  workingman.  They 
have  not  seldom  been  the  means  of  enabling 
him  to  make  a  fairer  bargain  with  the  Master, 
and  they  are  perfectly  lawful ;  though,  the  com- 
munity, to  save  itself  from  Unionist  tyranny  an  ^. 
extortion,  must  steadfastly  guard  the  liberties  of 
the  Non-Union  men.  But  the  idea  that  they 
can,  to  an  unlimited,  or,  even,  to  a  great  extent 
raise  wages,  is  unfounded.  The  screw  may  be 
put  upon  the  Master,  but  it  cannot  be  put 
upon  the  community;  and  it  is  the  commu- 
nity, not  the  Master,  that  is  the  real  employer. 
The  community  which  buys  the  goods  ulti- 
mately settles  the  price,  and,  thereby,  finally 
determines  the  wages  of  the  producers,  not- 
withstanding any  momentary  extortion ;  nor 
can  it  be  constrained,  by  striking,  in  the  end 
to  give  a  cent  more  than  it  chooses  and  can 
afford.     By  strikes,  carried   beyond   a  certain 


1 


V 


40  FALSE  If  OPES. 

point,  capital  may  be  driven  away,  and  the 
trade  may  be  ruined — as  trades  have  been 
ruined — but  the  rate  of  wages  will  not  be 
raised.  The  Master,  though  commonly  taken 
(or  the  employer,  is  the  agent  through  whom 
the  community  pays  the  workmen.  Towards 
the  men,  his  commercial  relation  is  really  that 
of  a  partner,  taking  out  of  the  earnings  of 
the  business  the  share  which  is  due  for  capital, 
risk,  and  guidance.  Masters  are  beginning  to 
mark  this  fact  in  a  kindly  way,  by  gjiving  shares 
in  the  concern  or  premiums  to  the  men,  while 
they  retain  the  guidance  in  their  own  hands. 

Strikers  ought  to  remember  that  they  are, 
themselves,  buyers  as  well  as  producers,  and, 
therefore,  employers  as  well  as  employed;  so 
that  if  they  can  strike  against  the  rest  of  the 
community,  the  other  trades  can  strike  against 
them,  and  wages  being  thus  raised  all  round, 
nobody  will  gain  anything.     They  ought  also 


FALSE  HOPES,  41 

to  remember  that  they  are  parts  of  an  in- 
dustrial organism,  on  the  well-being  of  which, 
as  a  whole,  that  of  all  its  members  depends, 
and  which  is  deranged,  as  a  whole,  by  the 
disturbance  of  any  portion  of  it.  A  strike 
in  one  section  of  a  trade  throws  out  of  work 
hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children,  in  the 
other  sections.  A  strike  in  certain  depart- 
ments, such  as  that  of  railways,  will  stop  the 
wheels  of  civilization ;  in  others,  it  will  cause 
incalculable  loss  and  suffering.  Suppose,  when 
an  artisan  had  been  hurt  by  the  machinery, 
the  surgeons  were  to  put  their  heads  out  of 
the  window  and  say  they  were  on  strike.  Arti- 
sans are  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  themselves 
exclusively  as  workingmen.  Everybody  who  is 
not  idle  is  a  workingman,  whether  he  works 

with  his  brain  or  with  his  hands  and  whatever 
part  he  may  play  in   the  service  of  a  varied 

and  complex  civilization,  f  ., 


1] 


n 

1:1 


42  FALSE  HOPES, 

Then,  there  is  the  hope  of  vastly  increas- 
ing the  wealth  of  the  world  in  general,  and 
that  of  the  artisans  in  particular,  by  means 
of  an  inconvertible  Paper  Currency.  Of  this 
illusion,  it  may  be  said,  that  not  even  the 
wildest  dreams  of  the  alchemist,  or  of  those 
adventurers  who  sailed  in  quest  of  an  Eldo- 
rado, were  a  more  extraordinary  instance  of 
the   human  power  of  self-deception.     Among 

the   champions  of  paper  currency  there   are* 
no   doubt,   knaves — many  a  one — who  know 

very  well  what  they  are  about,  and  whose 
aim  is  to  defraud  the  creditor,  public  and 
private,  by  paying  off  the  debt  with  depre- 
ciated paper,  an  operation,  the  sweetness  of 
which,  under  the  Legal  Tender  Act,  has  been  { 
already  tasted.  But  there  are  also  honest 
enthusiasts,  not  a  few,  who  sincerely  believe 
that  a  commercial  millenium  could  be  opened 
by  merely  issuing  a  flood  of  promissory  notes 


FALSE  HOPJ^S, 


43 


and  refusing  payment.  This  prodigious  fal- 
lacy has  its  origin  simply  in  the  equivocal  use 
of  a  word.  We  have  got  into  the  habit  of 
applying  the  name  money  to  paper  bank  bills 
as  well  as  to  coin.  The  paper  bill,  being  cur- 
rent as  well  as  the  coin,  we  fancy  that  with 
both  alike  we  buy  goods.  But  the  truth  is 
that  we  buy  only  with  the  coin,  to  which, 
alone,  the  name  money  ought  to  be  applied. 
The  bank  bill  is  like  a  cheque — not  money 
itself,  but  an  order  and  a  security  for  a  sum 
of  money,  which,  the  bill  being  payable  on 
demand,  can  be  drawn  by  the  holder  from 
the  bank,  or  the  government,  when  he  pleases. 
When  a  man  receives  a  bank  bill,  he  has 
virtually  so  much  gold  as  the  bill  represents' 
put  to  his  account  at  the  bank  by  which  the 
bill  is  issued.  The  bill  is  a  promissory  note, 
and  the  bank  in  increasing  the  number  of 
its  bills,  like  a  trader  who  increases  the  num. 


44  FALSE  HOPES, 

ber  of  his  promissory  notes,  adds,  not  to  its 
assets,  but  to  its  liabilities, 
*  In  the  slip  of  paper  itself  there  is  no  value  or 
purchasing  power;  nor  can  any  legislature 
put  value  or  purchasing  power  into  it.  Green- 
backers  point  to  the  case  of  postage  stamps* 
into  which,  they  say,  value  has  been  put  by 
legislation.      But  a  postage  stamp  is  simply 

a  receipt  for  a  certain  sum  paid  to  the  gov. 
ernment  in  gold,  and,  in  consideration  of  which, 
the  government  undertakes  to  carry  the  letter 
to  which  the  receipt  is  afifixed.        ^  "^    ^ 

'No  paper  money,  it  is  believed,  has  ever 
yet  been  issued  except  in  the  promissor)>  form, 
^  pledging  the  issuer  to  pay  in  gold,  upon  de- 
mand, so  that  each  bill,  hitherto,  has  borne 
upon  the  face  of  it  a  flat  denial  and  abjura- 
tion of  the  Greenback  theory.  Suppose  the 
promissory  form  to  be  discarded,  and  the  bill 
to  be   simply    inscribed  "  one  dollar,"  as   the 


\  FALSE  HOPES,  45 

Fiat-money  men  propose,  what  would  "  dollar  " 
mWn?  It  would  mean,  say  the  Greenback- 
ers,  a  certain  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the 
country',  upon  which,  as  an  aggregate,  the 
currency  would  be  based.  What  proportion  ? 
Let  us  know  what  we  have  in  our  purse, 
and  what  we  can  get  or  exchange  for  the 
paper  dollar  on  presenting  it  at  a  store ;  other- 
wise commerce  cannot  go  on.  This,  however, 
is  not  the  most  serious  difficulty.  The  most 
serious  difficulty  is  that  while  the  coin,  which 
a  convertible  bank  bill  represents,  is  the  pro- 
perty of  the  bank  of  issue,  the  aggregate  wealth 
of  the  country  is  not  the  property  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  of  a  multitude  of  private  owners. 
The  Government  is  the  possessor  of  nothing 
except  the  iublic  domain,  and  a  taxing  power, 
the  exercise  of  which  it  is  bound  to  confine 

to  the  actual  necessities  of  the  State.  la  issu- 
es 

ing  an  order  for  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  coat,  or  a 


46 


FALSE  HOPES. 


leg  of  mufton,  to  be  taken  from  the  possessions 
of  the  community  at  large,  it  would  be  simply 
signing  a  ticket  of  spoliation.  /        ; 

Ask  the  Fiat-money  men  whether  they  are 
prepared  to  take  their  own  money  for  taxes^ 
and  you  will  get  an  ambiguous  reply.  Some  of 
them  have  an  inkling  of  the  fatal  truth,  and 
answer  that  the  taxes  must  be  paid  in  gold. 
The  faith  of  others  is  more  robust.  But  it  has 
been  reasonably  inquired  why  the  government 
if  it  can  with  a  printing  machine  coin  money 
at  its  will  ^hould  pester  citizens  for  taxes  at  all. 

That  the  foreigner  will  take  the  national  fiat- 
money,  nobody  seems  to  pretend.  Yet,  if 
there  is  real  value  in  it,  why  should  he  not  ? 
All  the  better,  say  the  Greenbackers ;  if  hfe  will 
not  take  our  money,  he  will  have  to  take  our 
goods.  Then,  you  will  have  to  take  his  goods, 
and  the  commercial  world  will  be  reducecj 
again   to   barter  without  a   common   measure 


are 


FALSE  HOPES,  4f 

of  value,  which  would  not  be  a  great  advance 
in  convenience  or  in  civilization.  Besides, 
trade  is  not  merely  a  direct  interchange  of 
commodities  between  two  countries;  it  is  cir- 
culation of  them  among  all  countries — the 
United  States  sending  cotton  to  England,  En- 
gland, calico  to  China,  and  China,  tea  to  the 
United  States,  which,  without  a  common  stand- 
ard of  value,  would  be  next  to  impossible. 

In  one  sense,  of  course,  government  can, 
by  its  fiat,  put  value  into  paper.  It  can  make 
the  paper  Legal  Tender  for  debts — in  other 
words,  it  can  issue  licenses  of  repudiation, 
and  these  licenses  will  retain  a  value  till  all 
existing  debts  have  been  repudiated,  and  all 
existing  creditors  cheated ;  but,  from  that  time 

•         * 

their  value  will  cease,  since  everybody,  from 
the  moment  of  their  issue,  will  refuse  to  ad- 
yance  money,  or  sell  on  credit. 

In  all  the  cases  known  to  economical  his- 


4« 


FALSE  HO^ES. 


tory  in  which  governments  have  issued  in- 
convertible paper,  depreciation  has  ensued,  and 
such  value  as  it  has  retained,  has  been  ex 
actly  in  proportion  to  the  hope  of  resump- 
tion. When  cash  payments  were  suspended 
in  England,  at  the  crisis  of  the  French  war,  the 
depreciation  was  comparatively  small,  simply 
because  the  hope  of  resumption  was  strong. 
The  guillotine  was  plied  in  vain  to  arrest  the 
rapid  fall  of  French  Assignats,  though  these 
were  not  fiat  money,  but  bonds  secured  on 
the  national  domains,  which  were  good  secur- 
ity for  the  original"  issue.  Confederate  paper 
money,  with  the  defeat  of  the  Confederacy, 
lost  the  whole  of  its  value,  or  retained  a 
shadow  of  it  only,  through  stock-jobbing  tricks. 
In  San  Domingo,  a  gentleman  having  tendered 
a  silver  American  dollar  in  payment  for  his 
coffee,  received  from  the  surprised  and  de- 
lighted keeper  of  the  coffee-house  an   armful 


.  \ 


FALSE  HOPES. 


49 


of  paper  change.  Washington,  while  he  was 
saving  his  country,  was  being  robbed  through 
the  operation  of  inconvertible  paper  currency 
ot  part  of  his  private  estate;  and  the  effects, 
moral  and  political,  as  well  as  commercial,  of 
the  system,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  were 
such  that  Tom  Paine,  no  timid  or  squeamish 
publicist,  recommended  that  death  should  be 
made  the  penalty  of  any  proposal  to  renew  it. 
In  all  cases  where  specie  payment  has  been 
resumed,  the  State,  in  addition  to  the  loss 
incurred  through  disturbance  and  demoraliza- 
tion of  commerce,  has  paid  heavily  for  the 
temporary  suspension,  because  its  credit  has 
been  suspended  at  the  same  time,  and  it  has 
had  to  borrow  on  terms  far  worse  than  those 
which  it  could  have  obtained  in  the  money 
market,  had  its  integrity  been  preserved. 

The  value  is  in  the  gold.     It  is  in  exchange 
for  the  gold  that,  whenever  a  sale  takes  place. 


(-      i 


I! 


50  I'ALSE  HOFES.  / 

the  commodity  is  given.  Trade  was  originally 
barter,  and,  in  the  sense  of  being  always  an 
interchange  of  things  deemed  really  equiva- 
lent in  value,  it  is  barter  still.  I  give  a  cow 
(or  three  sheep,  and  then  give  the  three  sheep 
for  a  horse,  which  it  is  my  tiltimate  object 
to  purchase.  What  the  three  sheep  here  do 
in  a  single  transaction,  is  done  in  transactions 
generally  by  gold.  This  fundamental  and  vital 
fact  is  obscured  by  the  language  even  of  some 
economists  who  are  sound  in  principle,  but  who 
speak  of  the  precious  metals  as  though  their 
value  was  conventional,  and  like  that  of  sym- 
bols or  counters.  It  is  nothing  of  the  kind. 
The  first  man  who  gave  anything  in  exchange 
for  gold  or  silver,  must  have  done  so  because 
he  deemed  gold  or  silver  really  valuable;  so 
does  the  last.  The  precious  metals,  probably, 
attracted  at  first  by  their  beauty,  their  rarity, 
and  their  intrinsic  qualities;   then,  they  were 


FALSE  HOPES.  5 1 

felt  to  have  special  advantages  as  mediums 
of  exchange  and  universal  standards  of  value, 
on  account  of  their  durability,  their  uniformity, 
their  portability,  their  capability  of  receiving 
a  stamp,  of  being  divided  with  exactness,  and 
of  being  fused  again  with  ease.  Thus  they, 
and,  in  the  upshot,  gold,  displaced  all  the 
other  articles,  such  as  copper,  iron,  leather, 
shells,  whi'^l  'n  primitive  times,  or  under 
pressure  ot  circumstances,  were  adopted  as 
mediums  of  exchange  and  standards  of  value, 
^ut  they  have  now  the  additional  value  de- 
rived from  immemorial  and  immutable  pre- 
scription, which  would  render  it  practically 
impossible  to  oust  them,  even  if  a  substance, 
promising  greater  advantages  for  the  purpose, 
could  be  found.  The  French  Republicans  tried 
to  change  the  era,  and  make  chronology  begin 
"^ith  the  first  year  of  the  Republic,  instead 
of  beginning  with  the  biith  of  Christ.     But 


52  FALSE  HOPES, 

they  found  that  they  were  pulling  at  a  tree, 
the  roots  of  which  were  too  completely  en- 
twined with  all  existing  customs  and  ideas, 
to  be  torn  up.  It  would  not  be  less  difficult 
to  change  the  medium  of  exchange  and  stand- 
ard of  value  over  the  whole  commercial  world. 
A  value  which  is  moral,  or  dependent  on  opin- 
ion, is  not  the  less  real;  the  value  of  diamonds, 
as  symbols  of  wealth  and  ra*^k,  may  be  de- 
pendent, not  only  on  opinion,  but  on  fancy,  yet, 
it  is  real  so  long  as  it  lasts.  An  enormous 
find  of  gold  would,  of  course,  by  putting  an 
end  to  its  rarity,  destroy  its  value;  this  is 
a  risk  which  commerce  runs,  but  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  great.  Any  inconvenience  that 
might  arise  from  the  bulk  and  weight  of  the 
precious  metals,  is  indefinitely  diminished,  while 
in  use  .they  are  vastly,  and  in  an  increasing 
degree,  economized  by  the  employment  of  bank 
bills     and    other    paper    securities,  for   gold, 


FALSE  HOPES.  53 

which   are  currency,  though   money  they  are 
not. 

There  ought  to  be  no  such  thing  as  Legal 
Tender,  even  in  the  case  of  convertible  paper 
currency,  either  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment or  on  the  part  of  private  banks.  It  is 
rank  injustice  to  compel  us  to  take  anybody's 
paper  as  gold.  If  the  government  is  solvent 
and  its  security  is  good,  the  paper  is  sure  to 
be  taken  in  preference  to  carrying  about  a 
weight  of  specie.  Legal  Tender  confuses  the 
ideas  of  the  people,  shakes  commercial  morality, 
and  prepares  the  way  for  the  attempts  of  the 
Fiat-money  men,  and  for  all  the  mischief  which 
they  breed. 


The  last  ditch  of  Greenbackism  is  Bimetal- 
lism, or  the  proposal  to  place  silver  on  a 
par,  as  a  standard,  with  gold,  which  can  hardly 
fail  to  commend  itself  to  Silver  Kings.    To 


54  FALSE  HOPES. 

force  people  to  take  silver  for  gold,  would  be 
to  rob  them  of  the  difference;  and  such  a 
measure,  if  adopted  by  the  State,  would  be 
a  partial  repudiation.  Equity  would  require 
that  the  salaries  of  all  politicians  should,  first 
of  all,  be  paid  in  the  baser  metal.  To  have 
two  standards  is  to  have  none.  But  it  is 
proposed  that  a  convention  of  nations  shall 
be  called  to  fix  the  relation  of  value  between 
gold  and  silver.  How  is  it  possible  for  any 
convention  of  nations  to  fix,  and  to  keep  fixed, 
the  relation  of  any  two  commodities,  when, 
among  other  determining  circumstances,  the 
rate  of  production  varies  from  year  to  year? 
This  is  the  problem,  without  a  practical  solu- 
tion of  which  it  is  useless  to  waste  any  more 
thought  upon  -the  question.  A  great  number 
of  different  articles,  as  has  been  already  saidi 
have  been  used  from  time  to  time  by  trib«s 
or  nations,  as  mediums  of  exchange  and  stand- 


1     ii.. 


FALSE  HOPES.  '  55 

ards  of  value;  but  the  choice  of  the  commer- 
cial world  gradually  settled  down  upon  gold, 
which  is  now  the  medium  and  standard  of 
the  great  trading  communities,  silver  being 
used  as  change.  India  and  China  adhere  to 
silver,  as  some  more  barbarous  races  adhere 
to  cowries  or  wampum,  and  to  their  custom 
commerce  has,  in  dealing  with  them,  to  bend — 
not  without  very  great  inconvenience,  as  any 
one  who  has  watched  Anglo-Indian  finance 
must  know.  So  long  as  silver  is  used  only 
as  change,  a  rough  equivalent  is  sufficient. 
To  ask  communities  whose  wealth  is  stored 
in  gold  to  go  into  convention  for  the  purpose 
of  depreciating  gold  by  reducing  it  to  the 
level  of  silver,  is  to  presume  upon  a  blind- 
ness, or  weakness,  seldom  found  in  commer- 
cial  minds.  The  movement,  accordingly,  ap- 
pears to  make  but  little  way.        1:  I  ^  ;n^ 


i;( 


$6  _       •  FALSE  HOPES, 

With  belief  in  Fiat-money  are  often  com- 
bined fancies  about  the  tyranny  of  banks,  and 
a  desire  to  wreck  and  plunder  them  by  an 
exercise  of  the  legislative  power,  or  to  seize 
their  business  and  profits,  and  place  them  in  the 
hands  of  the  government.  There  is  nothing, 
indeed,  of  which  the  demagogues  are  fonder 
than  attacking  the  banks,  and  they  are  able, 
in  this  case,  to  appeal  with  effect  to  popular 
envy — always  the  breath  of  the  demagogue's 
life.  Especially  they  propose  to  take  away 
the  circulation  of  bank  bills,  and  the  profits 
belonginp^  to  it.  .        ^ 

Banks  are  vital  organs  of  a  commercial  com- 
^munity,  which,  in  seeking  their  destruction,  ** 
would  show  as  much  wisdom  as  a  man  would 
show  in  seeking  the  destruction  of  his  own 
heart  or  lungs.  They  perform  for  us  three  in- 
dispensable functions,  of  which  the  first  is  the 
iafe-keeping  of  our  money,  which,  otherwise,  we 


FALSE  HOPES,  57 

should  have  to  keep  in  our  houses  at  our  own 
risk,  as  is  still  the  practice  of  the  ignorant 
French  peasant,  who  hides  his  hoard  in  a  hole 
in  the  wall.  The  second  function  is  that  of  econ- 
omizing gold,  and  at  the  same  time  sparing  u§ 
the  inconvenience  of  carrying  aboUt  a  mass  of 
specie,  by  issuing  bank  bills,  which,  being 
secured  upon  the  whole  estate  of  a  chartered 
corporation,  may,  in  general,  be  accepted  with- 
out scrutiny,  and  thus  form  a  paper  currency, 
though  it  can  never  be  too  often  repeated  that 
they  are  not  money.  It  is  rather  hard  that 
those  who  are  always  declaiming  against  metal- 
lic money  for  its  cumbrousness,  and  because,  as 
they  say,  it  lies  dead  and  inert,  should  fail  to 
acknowledge  the  service  rendered  by  the  banks 
of  issue,  in  thus  giving  the  metal  wings,  and 
making  it  do  its  work  for  commerce  in  a  thou- 
sand places,  while  it  is  locally  laid  up  in  one. 
The  third  function,  which   is  the  offspring  of 


58 


FALSE  HOPES. 


comparatively  modern  times,  is  that  of  enabling 
us  to  trade  on  credit.  This,  the  banks  do,  by 
discounting  paper  for  the  trader,  whose  re- 
sources they  have  examined,  or  are  assured  of, 
and  whose  commercial  character  they  approve^ 
In  this  way,'  they  both  substantiate  and  regulate 
credit,  neither  of  which  could  be  done  without 
their  agency,  merely  by  the  representations  of 
the  trader  himself,  or  by  private  inquiry  into  his 
means.  To  stop  the  action  of  the  banks  in  this 
department,  would  be  to  render  trading  on 
credit  impossible,  to  arrest  all  enterprise,  and 
to  bring  the  world  back  to  that  state  of  com- 
mercial barbarism  which,  in  truth,  seems  to  be 
the  goal  of  the  economical  destructives. 

The  financial  Nihilist  grudges  the  banks  the 
profits  of  their  circulation,  and  wishes  to  trans- 
fer them  to  that  which  he  calls  the  State,  but 
which  it  is  necessary  always  to  bear  in  mind  isi 
in  fact,  simply  the  men  who  compose  the  gov- 


FALSE  HOPES.  59 

ernment.  Why  not  grudge  the  banks  the 
profits  of  the  discount  business,  and  propose  to 
transfer  that  *  to  government  in  the  same  way  ? 
Why  not  do  the  same  with  all  other  trades  by 
which  profit,  and  often  unfair  profit,  is  made? 
Why  not  make  the  issuing  of  bills  of  exchange, 
or  promissory  notes ;  why  not  make  the  supply- 
ing of  the  community  with  boots  or  dry  goods ; 
a  monopoly  in  the  hands  of  the  government  ? 
What  is  there  about  the  money  trade  in  partic- 
ular to  make  us  desire  that  it  should  be  put 
into  the  power  of  the  politicians  ?  Judging  by 
experience,  it  would  be  about  the  last  branch  of* 
commerce  on  which  we  should  wish  them  to  lay 
their  grasp.        •  n  ?        > 

It  is  the  busmess  of  government  to  put  its 
stamp  on  the  coin,  in  order  to  assure  the  com- 
munity that  the  coin  is  of  the  right  weight  and 
fineness.  This  public  authorities  alone  can  sat- 
isfactorily do,  and  they  may  now  be  trusted  to 


6o 


FALSE  HOPES. 


do  it,  though,  in  former  times,  kings  were  in  the 

habit  of  defrauding  the  subject  by  debasing  the 

coin,  a  proceeding  which  combined  the  guilt  of 

theft  with  that  of  forgery.     But  here  the  duty 

and  the  usefulness  of  government  in  regard  to 

the  currency  end.     The  volume  of  bank  bills 

issued  ought  to  be  regulated,  like  that  of  all 

other  commercial  paper,  by  the  requirements  of 

the  day — that  is,  by  the  number  anJ  amount  of 

the  transactions,  and   it  will   be   so   regulated 

while  it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  banks,  which  will 

not  fail  to  issue  all  the  bills  for  which  there  is 

real  need,  while,  if  they  issue  more  than  are 

needed,  the  bills  will  begin  to  come  back  upon 

their  hands.      But  government  can  no  more  de- 

cide  what  amount  of  bills  is  required  than  it 

can  decide  how  many  promissory  notes  or  bills 

of  exchange  ought,  at  any  given  moment,  to  be 

afloat.     Setting  government  to  settle  the  circu- 
it 

lation  of  paper,  is  having  the  barometer  regu- 


FALSE  HOPES. 


6i 


sre  in  the 
)asing  the 
le  guilt  of 
the  duty 
regard  to 
bank  bills 
hat  of  all 
rements  of 
amount  of 
regulated 
which  will 
ch  there  is 
I  than  are 
back  upon 
10  more  de- 
red  than  it 
►tes  or  bills 
ment,  to  be 
le  the  circu- 
meter  regu- 


lated by  superior  wisdom  without  reference  to 
atmospheric  pressure. 

The  English  Bank  Charter  Act  was  the 
offspring  of  the  alarm  caused  by  the  failure  of  a 
number  of  private  banks  of  issue.  It  would 
have  been  better  to  adopt  proper  safeguan  3  in 
the  way  of  inspection  and  other  precautionary 
regulations.  The  Act  has  gone  into  operation 
only  to  a  limited  extent,  having  put  a<n  end  to 
the  existence  of  a  few  only  of  the  private  banks 
of  issue,  all  of  which  it  was  intended  gradually 

to  extinguish.  It  has  been  three  times  sus- 
pended at  a  commercial  crisis,  each  suspension 
being  attended  with  all  the  inconvenience  and 
injustice  of  arbitrary  intervention ;  and  il^;  gen- 
eral effect,  whenever  tightness  is  felt,  is  to  pro- 
duce a  sort  of  nervous  contractioj,  which  itself 
tends  to  the  acceleration  of  a  crisis.  It  ought 
not  Jo  be  forgotten  that  the  Bank  of  England, 
though  employed   by  the  government,  is  quite 


62 


FALSE  HOPES, 


i 


a  distinct  institution ;  while,  in  England,  the 
commercial  interest  is  so  strong  that  no  poli- 
tician in  power  could  venture  to  tamper  with 
the  bank  or  its  operations.  Once  more  the 
working  of  an  economical  measure  depends 
partly  on  the  circumstances  of  the  country. 

Ordinary  banks,  being  private  institutions, 
are  amenable  to  the  law:  in  truth,  there  is 
nothing  of  which  the  politicians  are  fonder  than 
harassing  and  oppressing  them  with  legislation. 
But  a  party  government,  supported  by  a  major- 
ity, is  its  own  law,  and  can  do  whatever  its 
need  or  its  cupidity  inspires,  without  regard  to 
the  interests  of  commerce.  Even  the  least  dis- 
honest of  such  governments,  when  in  want  of 
money, thanksnothing  of  issuing  a  flood  of  legal 
tender  currency,  without  reference  to  the  state 
of  the  money  market,  a  proceeding  which  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  forced  loan.      Would  commerce 

> 

have  an  hour  of  security,  or  be  able  to  conduct 


FALSE  HOPES. 


(53 


any  of  her  operations  in  peace  and  confidence, 
if  the  hand  of  demagogism  were  all  the  time 
upon  her  heartstrings  ? 

Bank  bills,  though  not  legal  tender,  cannot, 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  trade,  be  refused, 
unless  there  is  some  public  reason  for  mistrust- 
ing the  solvency  of  the  bank.  This  is  the 
ground  for  subjecting  this  particular  class  of 
commercial  companies  to  special  legislation; 
and  it  is  the  sole  ground ;  there  would,  other- 
wise, be  no  justification  for  an  interference  with 
the  trade  in  money  more  than  with  any  other 
trade.  Nor  has  the  government  the  slightest 
right  to  compel  the  banks  to  take  its  bonds,  as 
the  condition  of  permitting  them  to  pursue  an 
honest  and  indispensable  traffic,  or  to  blackmail 
them  in  any  other  way.  To  do  so  is  confisca- 
tion, and  upon  confiscation  retribution  never 
fajls  to  attend.  It  is  not  the  bank,  but 
the  demagogue,  that  on  this  continent  is  the 


I 


II 

■I     '' 

1 1 


;,^ 


64 


FALSE  HOPES 


pest  of  industry,  as  well  as  of  public  affairs  and 
morality  in  general.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
stockholders  of  banks  must  not  suppose  that 
they,  of  all  investors  in  commercial  enterprises, 
are  entitled  to  the  intervention  of  government 
when  their  affairs  are  mismanged  by  directors 
of  their  own  choosing.  If  they  invoke  such 
aid,  they  will  once  more  practically  point  the 
moral  of  the  fable  of  the  horse  and  the  stag. 

The  notion  that  society  is  an  organism  or 
growth  has  perhaps  been  carried  too  far;  we 
have  an  individuality  and  a  power  of  acting  on 
the  general  frame,  which  the  parts  of  an  organ- 
ism have  not.  But  this  view  is,  at  least,  nearer 
the  truth  than  the  fancy  which  underlies  all 
Socialism,  that  society  can  be  completely  meta- 
morphosed by  the  action  of  the  State — an 
imaginary  power  outside  all  personalities,  supe- 
rior to  all  special  interests,  and  free  from  all  chss 
passions.     Nothing,   indeed,   can   be   less   free 


n 


affairs  and 

hand,  the 

ippose  that 

enterprises, 

;overnment 

►y  directors 

nvoke  such 

y  point  the 

the  stag. 

organism  or 
too  far;  we 
of  acting  on 
of  an  organ- 
least,  nearer 
underlies  all 
pletely  meta- 
2  State — an 
lalities,  supe- 
from  all  chss 
be   less   free 


'  FALSE  HOPES.  65 

from  class  passions  than  the  movements  which 
have  been  here  passed  in  review.  Social  hatred 
is  a  bad  reformer,  and  the  struggles  to  which  it 
has  given  birth  have  almost  always  brought  to 
the  community,  and  even  to  the  most  suffering 
members  of  it,  ten  times  as  much  lo«s  as  gain. 
To  speak  of  Protection,  would  be  open- 
ing a  wide  subject,  and  one  which,  perhaps, 
scarcely  falls  within  the  scope  of  this  paper. 
There  are  men,  sensible  in  other  things,  who 
imagine  that  they  can  increase  the  wealth  of 
a  country  by  taxation.  So  long  as  govern- 
ments and  armaments  are  maintained  on  the 
present  scale  of  expenditure,  every  country 
will  need  import  duties,  and  must  have  its 
tariff.  Absolute  free  trade,  therefore,  is  at 
present  out  of  the  question,  and  the  differ- 
ent tariffs  must  be  regulated  according  to 
th^  circumstances  and  the  special  industries 
of  each  community.     Every  nation  will  claim 


65 


FALSE  HOPES. 


.1 


this  right.     England,  who  has  her  tariff  like 
the   rest,  wisely  lets   in  free   the    raw  mate- 
rials  of  her  special   industries  and  the  food 
of  her  innumerable  workmen,  while  she  taxes 
finished  articles  of  luxury,  such  as  tea,  wine 
and  tobacco.     Free  traders,  British  free  traders, 
especially,   have    left    this    too  much   out    of 
sight,   and    have    comprcrised    their    theory 
by   that  error.      But,   that   taxation  can   add 
to  wealth  ;  that  governments  can  increase  pro- 
duction  by  forcing   capital   and   labor   out  of 
their  natural  channels ;   that  the   interest  of 
the   people   will    be  promoted    by  forbidding 
them  to   buy  the   best  and  cheapest   article 
wherever  it  can  be  found;  are  notions  which, 
if  reason  did  not  sufficiently  confute  them,  have 
been  confuted  by  experience.      Under  the  free 
system,  the  industries  of  England  have  been 
developed,  and  her  wealth  has  increased  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  growth  of  her  popu- 


Ave'  '. 


tariff  like 
raw  mate- 
the  food 
she  taxes 
tea,  wine 
ree  traders, 
ch   out    of 
eir    theory 
n  can   add 
icrease  pro- 
,bor   out  of 
interest  of 
forbidding 
)est   article 
ions  which, 
them,  have 
ier  the  free 
have  been 
Teased  out 
her  popu- 


>     .         FALSE  HOPES,  6/ 

A' 

iation,  and   to   an  extent   perfectly   unrivalled. 

The  verdict  of  economical  history  through  all 
the  ages  is  the  same.  Nobody  proposes  to 
draw  Customs  lines  across  the  territory  of  any 
nation,  and  the  commercial  advantages  of  free- 
dom of  exchange  know  no  political  limits 
though  in  passing  from  nation  to  nation,  fiscal 
necessity  intervenes.  The  workman  does  not 
gain  by  Protection ;  he  is  only  transferred  to 
an  artificial  industry  from  a  natural  industry, 
which  would  otherwise  develop  itself,  and  in 
which,  as  it  would  be  more  remunerative, 
employment  would  be  more  abundant.  The 
master  manufacturer  is  the  only  man  who 
gains ;  to  him  the  community,  under  the  Pro- 
tective system,  pays  tribute;  accordingly,  he 
is  generally  a  Protectionist,  and  uses  not  argu- 
ment alone,  but  the  Lobby,  and  influences 
of  all  sorts,  to  keep  up  the  tariff ;  he  will  do 
his  utmost  to  encourage  national  expenditure. 


6S  FALSE  HOPES.  • 

rather  than  taxes  shall  go  down.  Nor  can 
he  be  much  blamed,  when  the  government 
has  induced  him  to  put  his  capital  into  the 
favored  trade,  and  stake  his  future  on  the 
continuance  of  the  tavor.  Political  or  social 
motives  there  may  conceivably  be  for  Protec- 
tion, as  well  as  for  any  other  sacrifice  of 
commercial  interest,  such  as  war  itself ;  but  the 
commercial  sacrifice  is  a  fact  which  cannot 
be  denied.  To  foster  by  protective  duties 
or  bonuses  infant  industries,  which  may  after- 
wards sustain  themselves,  and  perhaps  draw  * 
emigration  to  a  new  country,  is  in  itself  a 
perfectly  rational  and  legitimate  policy,  if  the 
nation  can  really  keep  the  experiment  in  its 

own  hands.     But  artificial  interests  are  created,    ; 

j 

a  Ring  is  formed,  and  the  nation  loses  control   j* 
over  its  tariff.      Such,  at  least,  is  the'case  with    i 
communities   governed   as   are   those  of    this 
continent ;  and  again,  in  concluding,  we  would 


I  • 


FALSE  HOPES.  69 

strive  to  impress  the  necessity  of  regarding 
the  field  of  political  economy  as  a  region  not 
in  the  air  but  on  the  earth,  and  of  treating  the 
society  with  which  the  economical  legislator 
deals,  its  tendencies,  its  capabilities  and  its 
forces,  as  they  really  are.  The  connection  of 
political  economy  with  politics  is  a  blank  page 
in  the  treatises  of  the  great  writers. 

Steady  industry  aided  by  the  ever-growing 
powers  of  practical  science  is  rapidly  augment- 
ing  wealth.  Thrift,  increased  facilities  for  sav- 
ing and  for  the  employment  of  small  capitals 
will  promote  equality  of  distribution.  Let 
governments  see  that  labor  is  allowed  to  enjoy 
its  full  earnings,  untaxed  by  war,  waste  or  pro- 
tective tariffs.  For  the  unfortunate,  of  whom, 
in  a  great  community,  however  prosperous, 
there  must  always  be  some,  charity,  which  is 
daily  becoming  more  active  and  bountiful,  will 
provide.  ' 


